Plateau state Governor Simon Lalong, on Wednesday, said his administration will do everything within its power to sustain the peace it has restored to the State even as it continues to deal with crime and criminality.
He further said that Without security, businesses cannot thrive and investors will run away ”
Lalong made this known while speaking at the 4th Dinner with the business community in Plateau state held at the Banquet hall in Jos.
He said It is once again my honour to have your presence at this 4th Governor’s Interactive Dinner with the Business Community in Plateau State. I appreciate your attendance despite your very busy schedules.
Plateau State remains grateful to you for your perseverance and immense contributions to the economic development of its people. Indeed, you have done well in partnering the Government to provide jobs and employment which has boosted our productivity.
We are holding this event in a year that has been full of challenges that have impacted not only the business environment in Plateau State but all over Nigeria and the world. COVID-19 remains a major challenge that altered so many plans, particularly for government and businesses.
You will also recall that we experienced other challenges such as the END SARS protests that snowballed into looting and destruction of public and private properties including businesses. On behalf of the Government and people of Plateau State, I again offer our sincere sympathies to all that suffered loses.
As usual, this dinner is not a speech-making event but a forum for us to interact and reflect on what we can do to enhance the business environment in the State. You are well aware of the position of my administration regarding economic development which emphasizes the leadership of the private sector.
We also want to listen to you the organized private sector directly and understand your challenges that will hopefully drive the government to come up with sustainable solutions. Of course, it is at this forum that we can look back at what we discussed during the 2019 interactive dinner to see if the recommendations we put forward made any impact.
Our vision of engendering sustainable economic growth is anchored on the role that the business community can play to ensure that our people are empowered to create jobs and reduce unemployment.
This interactive dinner therefore provides another opportunity for us as a Government to discuss our level of commitment towards the improvement of the business enabling environment of the State and explain some of the reforms we have been carrying out.
Our administration has continued to work on the Ease of Doing Business by removing obstacles in the way of investors. We have completed and commissioned the Plateau State One-Stop Investment Centre designed to bring together all relevant Federal and State MDAs under one roof to reduce the burden by business registration, permits, licenses and approvals.
Without a doubt, COVID 19 has affected the nation’s economy by crippling businesses. Government at both State and Federal levels developed ways in reducing the impact of the pandemic in the economy
As a way of tackling the impact of Covid-19 on the state’s economy, we directed the Economic Advisory Council to come up with sustainable post-Covid Economy Recovery Plan. The team has since submitted its report, with most of their recommendations implemented by the State Government.
I directed that going forward most expenditure and resources will be prioritized in the three drivers, Agriculture, Mining and Tourism, which is in line with the State Strategic Plan Document.
Attention will also be focused on the key enablers such as peace, security and good governance, enhanced IGR, infrastructure, ICT, education and health. Re-skilling will be critical in the Post-Covid19 economy through the following. Deepening innovation and rewarding creativity
ii. Retraining of workers to adapt to the new normal
iii. Helping workers adapt to the digital workplace
iv. Preparing unemployed youth and women to leverage on the huge opportunities in the Economic Sustainability Programme of the Federal Government and international organisations.
We have also reviewed the cost of governance and deepened transparency in line with realities of the new normal as well as directed that government expenditure be focused on key sectors with most impact and multiplier effect.
We introduced the Liquidity Management Committee to ensure methodical/efficient management of scare funds and also reviewed the 2020 budget from N177bn to N122bn to bring it in line with realities to ensure only prioritized expenditure
To further open up the State for ease of transportation and business linkages, I approved a partnership with Max Air to offer Jos-Abuja-Jos flight, which has commenced operations. I just returned from Abuja on that flight this evening and it was filled to capacity.
Recently, we organised another Policy Retreat to enable our heads of MDAs evaluate our performances so far and do more. I am happy to report here that the retreat was fruitful as it gave us opportunity to check how far we have gone in actualizing our vision.
Lalong further said that “The Project Monitoring and Result Delivery Office supervised the Chief of Staff with clear mandate to ensure diligent tracking of Projects and Programmes implementation by all the MDAs.
We are further working on improving our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) which although has gone up slightly, is a far cry from our target. We engaged a consultant to help us leverage on technology and strengthen institutional capacity for effective revenue collection and accountability.
” As a government that is sensitive to the suffering of businesses across the State, we have introduced palliative tax relief measures to help mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID-19 on businesses on the Plateau. These measures include extension of time lines for filing of annual returns; waiver of penalties and interests charged due to late returns; reduction of interest for late payments; as well as granting of one (1) percent bonus to all tax payers who file returns early.
“Other measures taken are the suspension of enforcement of outstanding tax liabilities and reduction of taxes payable by informal sector businesses by up to 50 percent among others. Added to this is the implementation of aggressive tax audit and investigation on all organizations in and outside Plateau State which led to the recovery of over N3.8 billon from Federal MDAs alone.
” I have summoned all my heads of MDAs here so that you can engage them and take them to task in their areas of jurisdiction. Please feel free to tell us the truth and push us towards delivering our promises to the people of Plateau State.
He further said that I will not forget to specially thank GIZ for partnering with us all the way and also supporting this dinner. We cherish your partnership. The PIPC and PLASMIDA also worked hard to make this possible. We commend you also.
By Golok Nanmwa, Jos